Three more supreme court justices to cast their votes in coming days, with verdict expected by Thursday

Jair Bolsonaro led a criminal organisation that sought to plunge Brazil back into dictatorship with a murderous power grab involving special forces assassins and a vast disinformation campaign, the supreme court judge presiding over the former president’s trial has claimed as he voted for Bolsonaro’s conviction.

Alexandre de Moraes was the first supreme court justice of five to announce his decision on Tuesday, as the trial of Bolsonaro and seven alleged co-conspirators – including four senior members of the military and the former head of Brazil’s answer to MI6 – entered its final stretch.

“The defendant, Jair Bolsonaro, was leader of this criminal structure,” the judge told a courtroom in the capital, Brasília, during a five-hour speech detailing what he called Bolsonaro’s “authoritarian project”.